'Help the Hungry' a great success

By MARIDEE LAWSON

The Help the Hungry Bake Sale raised more than $16,000 this year, up from last year’s total of just more than $14,000.

“The bake sale had a great turn out this year, and had a consistent flow of traffic all day. It didn’t slow down. There was a large amount of people,” said event organizer Chris Landrum.

People from all over the community, including churches and community groups and other organizations donated food items and time for the event. Saturday people turned out and listened to the Farmington High School Choir. There were silent and live auctions, a cake walk, and children could decorate turkey cookies. 

“I went and it was great. We would like to thank everyone who baked and participated with the bake sale,” said Kathy Neiner, director of the St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry.

The bake sale also netted two large trash barrels overflowing with non-perishable food items. People brought in bags of food, not just single items. The bake sale committee is still receiving donations, so the total collected for the year is expected to go up.

“Both food pantries received $1,000 more than last year. It’s incredible, especially with the way the economy is. I haven’t seen anything like this before,” said Rick Meyer, director of the Ministerial Alliance Food Pantry.

The Boy Scouts also collected canned food items Saturday as part of their annual “Scouting for Food” drive each year. And Canyon Concrete held a non-perishable food drive in recent weeks to coincide with a grand opening of their new offices. Several other food drives are scheduled by different groups in coming weeks to help provide food for the community’s two food pantries.

Both the St. Vincent de Paul and Ministerial Alliance food pantries received more than $8,000 in cash as a result of the Help the Hungry Bake Sale. The money is used to purchase food from places such as the St. Louis Food Bank and other suppliers.

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